Hang gliding has evolved over the years into a very competitive sport, with experienced pilots always searching for any new technologies, techniques, or equipment which will allow them to fly further and faster than other pilots. The personal experiences of hang gliding flight are so rewarding that pilots are always eager to train others to fly so as to share these experiences. There are so many different skills to master in order to become a good hang glider pilot that many students unfortunately give up before they can reach the point of being able to experience high altitude sustained soaring flights.
Effective training of new hang glider pilots has always been a problem. Crude simulators have been erected in the past in order to aid in the training of new students. Francis M. Rogallo developed one such device in 1981. Rogallo's device was a mechanical system in which a fan blew air in the student's face to simulate relative windspeed. Rogallo's model was used to aid students in understanding the effect of body position on airspeed, but the full effects of weight-shift combinations on pitch and roll were not simulated with this device.
Another hang glider flight simulator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,982 to Christopher James. The James patent is a passive device, wherein the student is able to view a prerecorded flight scenery on a large projector screen while motors move A-frame handle bars and a pilot suspension system. The James patent has potential for showing a student how it might feel to ride as a passenger on a hang glider which is controlled by someone else, but the student has no control over the prerecorded flight, regardless of his attempts to provide input. If the student is not cautioned that he is actually providing no input into the simulated flight, he could falsely conclude that he has made successful flights in the simulator and he might think that he has learned how to control a hang glider.
The widely accepted and currently preferred method of aircraft flight simulation is to employ digital microprocessors or computers and accompanying software programming. There are several commercially available flight simulation software packages which can be run on personal computers. Microsoft's "Flight Simulator.RTM.," version 4.0 includes a sailplane simulation. Microsoft's "Aircraft and Scenery Designer," version 1.0 can be used to modify the sailplane flight characteristics so that it accurately simulates hang glider performance. Different landscapes and environments can be created using the scenery design portion of the software, providing a means for creation of various flying sites and situations. There are several computer peripheral devices currently available which can be used to provide input for the computer based simulators. These peripheral devices include joysticks, yokes, throttle handles, and rudder pedals which rest on the floor. However, none of these input devices are acceptable interfaces for suspended pilots who use weight shift to control their aircraft, such as hang glider pilots do. Without this necessary interface, the hang gliding experience can not be adequately simulated, nor is there any opportunity for helpful training.
Turning now to actual aircraft flight control systems, it is well known that such systems have developed over the years which depart from the purely mechanical systems to include the use of electrical signals that control remote electromechanical devices. The advantages are numerous and well documented. One of the primary advantages of the electrical control system is the ease of signal conditioning and modulation in order to achieve the desired response due to the given input conditions. Computers and logic control systems can also be incorporated into the system and be programmed so as to greatly enhance the response, overall stability, and safety of the aircraft.
Although the advantages of electromechanical control systems are widely acknowledged and incorporated into the latest aircraft designs, the weight-shift type control system has never been augmented by electromechanical devices. Current hang glider performance is limited by the lack of control authority obtainable with the standard weight-shift control system, which requires that wing spans and aspect ratios be severely limited in comparison with sailplanes. Several innovative mechanical and structural augmentation devices have been successfully employed in some designs, but the practical limits of this approach have also been reached. The principle of this invention can be used to provide a means for incorporation of electromechanical control systems into hang gliders and ultralight aircraft, which should enhance performance potentials for these type aircraft.